There are not enough beers in the world...

The Minx Update: Episode 003: Anti aging but pro Aubrey De Gray

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 was one of those days, one of those exciting days where life extension was in the news and an h+ club member had a chance to participate in the larger movement.

Life Extension on MSNBC

MSNBC's front page feature was "Longevity quest moves slowly from lab to life". Subtitled "Don't bank on anti-aging pills anytime soon — unless you're a worm", the article surveyed the current state of research into aging and possible solutions. The skepticism provided was mostly about when these technologies would become available for humans.

Reporters have been using centenarians as their angle in recent articles and television programs about longevity and this development is wonderful. This is the soft, humane, and friendly side of radical life extension discourse that until now seemed to be predominated by ethical debates and criticism.

GlaxoSmithKline to acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuticals

News broke on Tuesday that GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to acquire Sirtris Pharmaceuticals for US$22.00 per share (approximately US$720 million total.) Sirtris Pharmaceuticals was recently highlighted on the Barbara Walters' ABC News special "Live to 150, Can You Do It?" for their research into resveratrol and related compounds that may offer the health and life extension benefits of calorie restriction without the painful dieting.

Simone Syed on MIT Radio

Simone Syed, h+ Tucson President, called into MIT's WMBR radio station during the "DJ Awesome & the Wonder Friends" show with guest host Luke Griffiths. Luke's topic was the Technological Singularity, and Simone brought some much needed clarity and respectability to the proceedings after a rather bizarre rant by the first caller. Luke and Simone discussed definitions, transhumanism, and the timing of the Technological Singularity and mind uploading. Later callers included Yonah Berwaldt, past CFO of the Stanford Transhumanist Association and volunteer at Singularity Summit 2007.

The show has already been archived: [Streaming M3U format] Tue Apr 22 06:00 pm.

It is always great when you find life extension news in unexpected places, and even better when it happens to be from one of your favorite writers at your favorite technology blog. Gizmodo is always good for a laugh, and excellent for keeping up with the latest technology gizmo news. Adam Frucci recently posted about new hope for a calorie restriction drug, in his humorous, witty, and supportive way.

The comments, as usual for this topic in more mainstream venues, are not so positive.

I plan to explore the following declarations in more detail in future h+ Solutions posts. These declarations are from "The Transhumanist Declaration" by the World Transhumanist Association and contributors ("Doug Bailey, Anders Sandberg, Gustavo Alves, Max More, Holger Wagner, Natasha Vita More, Eugene Leitl, Berrie Staring, David Pearce, Bill Fantegrossi, Doug Baily Jr., den Otter, Ralf Fletcher, Kathryn Aegis, Tom Morrow, Alexander Chislenko, Lee Daniel Crocker, Darren Reynolds, Keith Elis, Thom Quinn, Mikhail Sverdlov, Arjen Kamphuis, Shane Spaulding, Nick Bostrom".) The document was last updated and adopted on December 01, 2002.

The Transhumanist Declaration

(1) Humanity will be radically changed by technology in the future. We foresee the feasibility of redesigning the human condition, including such parameters as the inevitability of aging, limitations on human and artificial intellects, unchosen psychology, suffering, and our confinement to the planet earth.

(2) Systematic research should be put into understanding these coming developments and their long-term consequences.

(3) Transhumanists think that by being generally open and embracing of new technology we have a better chance of turning it to our advantage than if we try to ban or prohibit it.

(4) Transhumanists advocate the moral right for those who so wish to use technology to extend their mental and physical (including reproductive) capacities and to improve their control over their own lives. We seek personal growth beyond our current biological limitations.

(5) In planning for the future, it is mandatory to take into account the prospect of dramatic progress in technological capabilities. It would be tragic if the potential benefits failed to materialize because of technophobia and unnecessary prohibitions. On the other hand, it would also be tragic if intelligent life went extinct because of some disaster or war involving advanced technologies.

(6) We need to create forums where people can rationally debate what needs to be done, and a social order where responsible decisions can be implemented.

(7) Transhumanism advocates the well- being of all sentience (whether in artificial intellects, humans, posthumans, or non- human animals) and encompasses many principles of modern humanism. Transhumanism does not support any particular party, politician or political platform.

Some interesting neuroscience links came my way:

BBC say: Caffeine saves your brain, researchers agree

Autism has a political agenda (sociodemographic at least)

News! Men misperceive sexual interest in women! I can't believe that it took science so long to catch up on this one. Afterall questionablecontent had this comic years ago.

Drugs are bad, but really cool looking in the flash thingy.

The next modafinil? here.

Michael Anissimov of Accelerating Future posted a kind mention of the h+ sites, including our recent updates.

I have been following Anissimov's blog for a long time and I recommend his perspective and commentary. There are two other Accelerating Future reference projects I recommend as highly informative, even useful:

• People Database - a who's who reference of interesting and active participants in the transhumanist, singularitarian, physical immortalist (radical life extensionist?), and related movements.
• Future Current - a collection of transcripts of talks by these participants.

Bruce Klein sat down with Madeline Minx (who!?) for a brief interview about AI and the future of sex. The Minx was not happy with his answers, and he received slaps for his efforts. Laugh, cringe, and then move to China, because the Minx is frighteningly funny.

"I smells me some immortality..."

High resolution version available on Revision3 (home of Diggnation and more shows.) My own prediction for 2008: the continued rise of independent television production over the web, helped out by the continuing writers' strike, and improved by the latest release of Adobe Flash Player (which supports higher bitrates.)

Dresden Codak is an online comic that explores transhumanism and other topics, written and drawn by Aaron Diaz. In a September 04, 2007 post entitled "An Exotic Matter", Thog, simian Professor of Finding an Animal and then Killing It at The University of the Woods, critiques the emerging trans-simianism philosophy, circa 298,000 BC. Highlight:

"Klomp predicts that through a technology called ‘hygiene’ we could extend the simian lifespan well into the late 20s or possibly 30s. What exactly will the post-simian do with all that time? Do we really want to live in a society populated by geriatric 27- year- olds?"